Former yokozuna Akebono was also supposed to throw beans, but he had to be hospitalized for a swollen right leg. Too bad.

Setsubun bean throwing at Ikegami Honmonji temple, Tokyo.They threw a lot of beans for about 10 min. Interesting that they did not say, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" We caught a good haul of lucky beans.

They threw a lot of beans. I think just about everyone was able to catch beans.

My lucky beans. The beans are in little plastic bags with a paper bottom.

The beans included a square piece of caramel candy. The paper says "Lucky beans," "Setsubun," the name of the temple, and an ad for a local business.

Crowd goes home after setsubun.

Torii gate at Kanda Myojin Shrine.

Base of the torii.

On Feb. 3, 2012 to mark the start of spring, Kanda Myojin Shrine near Ochanomizu/Akihabara, Tokyo held its annual Setsubun Festival from 2 pm to 3:30 pm. About 350 people including local politicians and an idol group threw beans.

About Kanda Myojin in English. Kanda Myojin was originally built to protect Edo Castle from the ominous kimon direction.

About Kanda Myojin in Japanese.

Carvings on the gate.

Path to the main worship hall.

Oni ogre statue used in the Kanda Matsuri.

Monument to mark Emperor Meiji's visit to the shrine.

Stone lion mountain.

About the Stone lion mountain.

At 2 pm, a procession led by kiyari workman chanters and the bean throwers entered the shrine.

Blue and red ogre representing the evil spirits to be chased away.

Daikoku and Ebisu, two gods of good fortune.

Bean throwers born in the year of the dragon. About 350 of them. They pay money to do it.

The bean throwers head for the worship hall for a short Shinto ceremony.

This is a singing idol group called Houkago Princess who threw beans and sang at the end. They are still obscure.

Nice that they included all of us in the ceremony too. A priest waved his wand outside to bless us.

The archers symbolically aim their arrows at the two ominous directions (kimon and ura-kimon).

The archer symbolically aims his arrow at the ominous directions (kimon and ura-kimon).

Bells of Good Fortune swung by the Daikoku and Ebisu gods.

Besides small bags of soybeans, they threw small packets of sweets and mikan (tangerines).

They didn't throw very far.

Live festival music played during the bean throwing.

Clean up after a crowd.

They broke up the crowd into groups and the crowd took turns getting the beans. This is the next crowd waiting to enter.

Very difficult to catch the mikan (you need a baseball glove). Most of it fell to the ground and got trampled. It's a waste and dangerous to throw such heavy things.

I bagged this bag of beans. It actually hit me when I wasn't looking.

My video of Kanda Myojin Setsubun.

Kameido Tenjin Shrine also holds setsubun ceremony on Feb. 3, but at night. First the ogre appeared as they growled toward the shrine.

Most people came to see the celebrities throwing the beans for mamemaki. They included sumo wrestlers Yokozuna Hakuho, Ozeki Kisenosato, Baruto, and Okinoumi. Also Haruka Ayase, Ayame Goriki, Kotaro Koizumi and other stars of the current NHK Taiga Drama.

The path to Shinshoji has sculptures of the oriental zodiac. 2013 is the year of the snake.

People streaming to Shinshoji for the Setsubun bean throwing festival.

From the train station, the main path to Narita-san is lined with shops and restaurants. The buildings look more traditional as you get closer to the temple.

Normally, you can enter the temple up the steps straight from Niomon Gate, but it was blocked off and we had to use the steps on the right.

Jam-packed since Feb. 3 fell on a Sunday this year in 2013.

Finally in the central grounds of the temple. It was packed like a rush-hour Tokyo train.

I arrived just before 11 am which was too late to get close to the bean throwers.

The mamemaki bean-throwing ceremony was held three times. The first time was at 11 am. I was way too far away from the bean throwers.

There's a ceremony first inside the temple.

After the ceremony, the bean throwers came outside.

Most of use didn't get any beans. It was the first time I didn't get any beans from a Setsubun festival.

These are non-celebrities. They threw the beans for about a minute. Very short.

After throwing the beans, they clapped their hands.

After throwing beans the first session, the bean throwers started leaving. First the sumo wrrstlers, then the actresses/actors. Haruka Ayase is behind the wrestlers here.

So much for the first bean-throwing ceremony. I was just too far away because I arrived late.

Shinshoji's main hall is decorated with Buddhist colors and red and white.

Since I came all the way out here, I decided to stay and see the second bean-throwing ceremony at 1:30 pm.

Meanwhile, I joined many others to worship inside the temple's main hall.

People streaming into the temple's main hall.

People streaming into Narita-san Shinshoji temple's main hall.

Inside the main hall, people pray and throw money. It must like this during New Year's too. Setsubun is actually like New Year's Eve.

Already, hordes of people stand and wait for the second bean-throwing session 2 hours later.

This is how close you have to be to the platform to get any beans.

This side was more crowded because that's where the celebrities would throw beans. Press cameramen were also on this side.

Names of the celebrity bean throwers.

I stood and waited for about 90 min. until 1:30 pm. Glad I brought lunch (riceballs).

In-between the bean-throwing sessions, they held a different ceremony, called "Kaiun mamemaki" (開運豆まき), inside the main hall. They paraded into the temple at around 12:30 pm.

The people (no celebrities) participating in Kaiun mamemaki had a group photo taken. Anybody could join this by paying 10,000 yen.

The ceremony inside the temple had sutra chanting while there was a fire started by a priest and used to heat the bean boxes given to the bean throwers. They threw beans at the altar, not to any people.

We all patiently waited. But things happened so it made the time go by faster. Fortunately, the weather was good.

Finally, the celebrity bean throwers arrived again and first posed for a group photo before going inside the temple for the ceremony.